Ukraine

Middle Eastern LCCs driving growth into Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS

Russia, the CIS nations and Central and Eastern Europe have been receiving a great deal of attention from Middle East-based carriers in recent months. Full service and low-cost carriers have announced or added a flurry of routes into Eastern European destinations over the past few weeks. Airlines in the Middle East are looking to tap into the underserved region, which is still showing strong economic growth despite troubles in several European markets and strong growth in business and tourism traffic.

Homegrown LCCs Air Arabia and flydubai are leading a push into the regions, but so too is Qatar Airways. Additionally, Oman Air plans to launch services to Moscow. While Middle Eastern carriers have long dominated traffic into western Europe, they now comprise the majority of traffic between the Middle East and central Europe, eastern Europe, Russia and CIS.

Russia, Turkey and Sweden the hottest destinations for European travellers this Summer. Egypt down

Russia, Turkey and Sweden are among the fastest growing major destinations for European travellers this summer, latest analysis from CAPA shows. According to Innovata schedule data for Apr-2011 - the first month of the summer scheduling season - Russia and Turkey will enjoy near 20% increases in passenger capacity from other European countries next month.

European airlines report single-digit traffic growth in 2010; profits remain weak

European airlines reported single-digit growth last year - a welcome improvement from 2009's depressed level - but 2010 was a lacklustre year overall. Full year data has been released by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) and EUROCONTROL. As noted by EUROCONTROL, growth across the continent last year was driven mainly by LCCs.

Ukrainian air traffic movements increase 15% in 2010

Ukrainian State Air Traffic Service Enterprise (UkSATSE), the air navigation services provider of the Ukraine, reported 2010 aircraft traffic rose 15.2% year-on-year, to a record 457,445 movements. UkSATSE’s area of responsibility covers five Flight Information Regions with the total area of 776,442sqkm. UkSATSE manages airspace over its own territory as well airspace over the Black Sea, a high-volume traffic area with major strategic air corridors handling traffic between Europe and the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.